Wednesday, December 29, 1999
Aberdeen responds to fire survivor
Husband, 2 girls were killed
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
ABERDEEN, Ohio — There is a hole in this Brown County river town where a family used to be.
On Tuesday, residents responded with their thoughts and money, one day after three members of the Winkle-Moore family died in an early-morning house fire.
The lone survivor was Millie Moore, 28, mother of the 4- and 1-year-old girls who were killed. The girls' father, William Winkle, 55, also died.
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TO HELP
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• To make a financial contribution to the Millie Moore Assistance Fund, send it to Aberdeen Community First Bank, Box 505, Aberdeen, OH 45101. For more information, call the bank at (937) 795-2248.
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“I've had, within the hour, three myself, and I know the other girls have, too,” Angie Eitel of Aberdeen Community First Bank said of the stream of people coming in to contribute to the Millie Moore Assistance Fund.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the state fire marshal's office, which says the 3 a.m. blaze apparently started in the first-floor kitchen of the home on U.S. 52.
Radio reports Tuesday that a malfunctioning coffeepot might have been the cause are “conjecture at this point,” Tom Ratcliff, fire marshal's office spokesman in Columbus, said Tuesday afternoon.
Police and fire officials in Aberdeen think Mr. Winkle might have been in the shower when the fire broke out. He usually left for work in Cincinnati at 4:30 a.m., they said.
But for some in Aberdeen, “How?” isn't as important a question as “What now?”
Ms. Moore lost everything. The home was destroyed.
“It makes you feel good to know people out there do care,” said Ms. Eitel, a customer service representative at Aberdeen Community First Bank. The bank is coordinating the relief effort with the Aberdeen Baptist Church.
The church's pastor, Larry Polston, said he's been overwhelmed by expressions of support. For instance, he was getting coffee at the Buckeye Cash and Carry convenience store a half-block from the Moores' home when a man approached him and asked how he could help.
“It's a good sign,” Pastor Polston said when reached at home Tuesday. “If something good can come out of this, it's people helping. The immediate thing now is getting past the funerals.”
He likened the relief effort for Mrs. Moore to the recovery from the devastating Ohio River flood of March 1997.
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